The following trends analysis is put together on the basis of available secondary data at the time of publication. It is representative of the available information and therefore indicative of mixed migratory trends in East Africa & Yemen.

Kharaz camp was opened in 2001 and remains the only refugee camp in Yemen. The vast majority of the population are Somali refugees.
The camp is located in Lahj Governorate, where average temperatures in summer exceed 40° Celsius. UNHCR maintains a Field Office in Kharaz.
Since August 2017, UNHCR has been supporting Yemeni authorities to conduct a verification exercise of refugees living in Kharaz camp.

Yemen – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, continues to help migrants, including refugees, stranded in Yemen return home, with its latest voluntary humanitarian return support taking place this week (04-05/08). One movement left from Hudaydah with 132 Ethiopian migrants and the second from Aden with 116 Somali refugees.

Nairobi – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and its partners launched, on 6 August, a Regional Migrant Response Plan (RMRP) for the Horn of Africa and Yemen through which they are appealing to the international community for USD 45 million. The plan details support to migrants on the move in the Horn of Africa and Yemen from 2018 to 2020.

Sana’a – After a careful assessment of the current situation in Hudaydah by IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and through high-level coordination with stakeholders, a voluntary humanitarian return of 53 Ethiopian migrants was organized from Yemen.

On Thursday (12/07), utilizing IOM expertise in such complicated situations, a safe corridor was charted to move the migrants from Hudaydah Seaport; a ship with proper clearances transported the 53 migrants (48 men, 5 boys) out of war-torn Yemen to Djibouti, where IOM staff will receive them and coordinate their onward journeys.

In early 2017, UNHCR launched the Dangerous Crossings campaign to spread awareness among the tens of thousands of refugees and migrants who risk their lives crossing the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea from the Horn of Africa to war-stricken Yemen.

With the help of prominent musicians from Ethiopia, Somalia, and Egypt, UNHCR produced the Dangerous Crossings song to help raise awareness and break the business model of people trafficking and smuggling.